


Walking Between Worlds

by BigBandBombshell



Category: Hellboy (Movies 2004-2008)
Genre: F/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut, fae, fae lore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-01-22 23:20:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18537514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigBandBombshell/pseuds/BigBandBombshell
Summary: Word reaches the royal family of Bethmoora of a woman with extraordinary abilities. Is she a Fae lost in her glamour? Or is she a human with skills that put the People of the Earth at risk? Nuada and Nuala choose to investigate and what they find is more shocking than they could have prepared for. Aurora is not human. But she is not Fae either. She is both, a combination thought impossible. The royal family takes her in to better understand how she came to be and what she means for their people. Nuala takes a shine to the strange woman. But Nuada - recently returned from his self-imposed banishment - has no love for humans. Forever is a long time when you're immortal. But is it long enough to forgive? And is it long enough to learn how to love?





	1. Shepherding the Lost

 

The stench of humans was enough to make his eyes water. Nuala seemed unaffected, but Nuada found that he couldn't get within several feet of the ramshackle building without dampening the spell through magic.

“How can you stand them?” Nuada murmured. He held a thin handkerchief over his face, mimicking the few well-dressed humans he's glimpsed around the squalid city.

“They're not so bad. Some of our kind are of an ilk, if not worse.” Nuala smiled up at him. Nuada only grunted.

Their glamours held strong as they picked their way along the sodden track toward their destination. He and Nuala still appeared as siblings, but as brothers rather than twins. Nuala's fine features were hidden beneath her magic, her form losing most of its curves and taking on bulk that simply did not exist in her natural state. Their skin was pink, devoid of its gold luster, and their hair was a more mortal shade of yellow.

“Besides,” Nuala went on. Nuada could hear her true voice beneath the glamour, but to the humans they passed she sounded of a timbre with Nuada's natural voice. “If this woman really can do what the rumors say she can do, she might be one of ours lost in a glamour. It is our duty as her sovereigns to bring her home.”

“Right as ever, sweet sister.” Nuada stopped before the door of the whore house and gave his sister a shallow bow from the waist. He held the door open for her with one hand and gestured her inside with the other.

Humans were so odd about their sexuality. It was as natural to most of them as breathing yet they hid it away in dirty dens or darkened rooms.

“You're brooding,” Nuala accused softly. “It is not their way to revel in life as we do. Let it be what it is and focus on the woman.”

Nuada grunted again and glanced around the dimly lit chamber. A fire burned in a low stone hearth and candles were scattered about, but that was all the humans had to offer for light. A thick-thighed and well-curved women sauntered over to them. Her eyes drank Nuala's human form in first, then flicked to Nuada. Her gaze did not linger for long. Human gazes rarely did. Even with his glamour in place, something about him touched the primitive parts of their brain. They remembered their position as prey, whether or not they understood the fear they felt.

“You two must be a long way from home.” The woman's smile returned as she looked back at Nuala.

“And you have a good eye,” Nuala chuckled. Her brother glanced at her, surprise etched in the arch of his brow. She sounded just like the courtiers back home. Either some of them had become bold in his absence or his sister had worn this glamour more than he realized.

“What brings you to my lovely little home?” The woman trailed a finger down Nuala's chest. Nuada tensed but his sister captured the woman's hand in both of hers, surprising everyone but herself when she brought the woman's fingertip to her lips.

“My sweet lady, we're here chasing...a rumor.” Nuala leaned in to whisper the words nearer the woman's face. Nuada couldn't hide the twitch of his lips when a flush rose to the woman's cheeks, doubtless the first she'd felt in quite some time.

“And what rumor would that be, m'lord?” The woman all but whimpered the words as Nuala's magic wove a light thrall over her.

“We have heard tell of a beautiful virgin abandoned by her family. Beautiful but mad as a witch. A little birdy told us she had found her way here.”

The woman flinched. A frown tried to settle on her lips and Nuala kissed the tip of her finger again to weave another layer of thrall over her. The woman's resistance faded and died.

“I...do have such a wench. But she is quite mad. Too mad for good men such as yourselves.”

“Too mad for anyone, I dare hope?” Nuada cut in with a soft frown. The woman tried to look at him but Nuala caught her chin in gentle fingers and kept the woman's eyes on her own. Warning tingled down the bond Nuada shared with his sister and he frowned. Yes, enough fear would break his sister's thrall. But if this woman was as vulnerable as the rumors suggested – whether she were human or Fae – she had no business in a whore house.

“As of the moment. Her family hoped the country air would do her well,” the woman murmured. Nuala smiled at her and the woman's smile answered though her gaze remained unfocused. “But she's been truly abandoned, m'lords. I'm not the kind of person to go abusin' the mad.”

“Of course you're not, dearest,” Nuala purred. The woman nearly melted at Nuala's feet. “Be a sweet and let us see her? We think we may know what ails her.”

Another frown flitted over the woman's face before fading under the light of Nuala's smile.

“Right this way, good sirs.” The woman bowed sloppily, half-drunk on Thrall. Nuala allowed the woman to take her hand and lead them deeper into the dim rooms.

Nuada tracked the turns they took before they stopped at a door deep in the house.

“Had to keep her away from the paying guests, ya see,” the woman muttered as she pulled a key from the pouch at her hip. “She's asleep now, thank god for rum. But she'll scream like the bean sidhe if you wake her.”

Nuada shared a skeptical look with his sister. The woman might be one of their people lost in a glamour but she was no bean sidhe. If she were, the entire town would have been dead long ago.

The woman began to step inside and Nuala laid a hand on her wrist.

“My brother is a doctor but he is shy. Might you wait out here? We swear not to upset the poor girl.”

“I...suppose...so...” The woman shook her head in an attempt to clear the thrall but Nuala's charms held fast. A moment later Nuala pushed her brother into the small, dark room and closed the door behind them. A little magic sealed the room to all but themselves. Nuada dropped his glamour with a sigh of relief, though he still held the magic in place to repel the stench of humans.

“If she is lost in a glamour, it is better than any I have ever seen.” Nuala frowned down at the woman's huddled form.

“If the mind believes it long enough...” Nuada didn't have to finish. They knew the warnings.

The woman was still young, though it was hard to gauge with humans. Nuala laid her palm against the woman's cheek and closed her eyes.

“Twenty-three years, or so she believes. She is...she is...” Nuala frowned and leaned in toward the girl before jerking her hand away with a gasp. She stepped back a pace, wide eyes staring up at Nuada from across the girl's sleeping form.

“I...I don't know what she is,” Nuala whispered.

“What do you mean?” Nuada frowned at his sister but she only shook her head.

“I don't know what she is. She feels human but....but not.” Nuala motioned at the woman and Nuada grimaced. His sister's disapproval touched him across their bond and he glared up at her.

“You don't mind them. Do not force that tolerance on me, not after all they have done.”

“You need to set that aside if we're to help this woman. I can't read her origins on my own.” Nuala motioned at the woman again. Both Fae froze as the woman in questions frowned and stirred in her sleep. A soft whimper crossed her lips and Nuada found himself reaching forward before he could think better of it.

She was in pain. So much pain that he could feel it through the haze of her sleep, feel it without touching her.

Her eyes snapped open before his palm could find the bare skin of her upper arm. All three of them froze, the woman's wide eyes locked to Nuada's inhumanly golden gaze.

“No...” The woman moaned the word and squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, Lord. No more. I beg of you!”

Nuada jerked his gaze up to his sister, confusion flooding their bond. Their people could recognize royalty on sight or by the way the royal family's magic felt. Humans had no such skills.

“She is only praying, brother,” Nuala murmured. The woman curled in on herself, her hands flying up to cover her ears. “Praying to their human god.”

“No human deity holds power here, girl,” Nuada murmured.

He meant it to be reassuring in the face of her fear but she only moaned and bit her lip, curling into a tighter ball. Nuala glared at him and laid a gentle hand on her arm. Tension melted from the woman's form between one breath and the next. Still she kept her eyes shut and her hands over her ears.

“Listen well, dearest,” Nuala murmured. The woman flinched but did not curl in on herself. Nuala's glamour slipped back in place as easily as Nuada would sheath a sword. “I want you to look at me and tell me what you see.”

The woman shook her head and Nuala clucked her tongue.

“There is no need to fear,” she murmured. Nuada arched a brow, knowing this for a lie, but Nuala was not looking at him. “We're here to help but I must know what you see.”

Nuada held his breath as his sister's thrall wove heavily over the woman. Still she did not obey, did not move from her position on her side. Nuala frowned and finally looked up at her brother.

“Do you hear me, dearest?” She tried again. The woman nodded with a whimper. “Will you obey?”

“No.”

Nuala jerked her hand back and shot to her feet. She frowned at Nuada and tried to again to press her will over the woman's but Nuada could feel it sliding off without effect. He motioned for his sister to stop.

“Now we do things my way?” He murmured.

Nuala sighed and stared at the woman for a moment. She finally nodded, then turned away. Nuada's way was always harder.

Nuada sighed and flexed his hands. One moment he stood beside the woman and the next he had her wrists in his hands, her back flush to the mattress, and his knee digging into the scratchy blanket at her side. Her eyes flew open and met his once more.

“My Lord!” She cried out. Nuada hissed and tears gathered in her eyes. “I beg of you, end my misery. Please, good Prince. I see you! I know you! I cannot continue between the realms. Please, please end my torment!”

“You...you know me?” Nuada frowned and the woman whimpered again. His grip on her wrists loosened but she did not move from his grasp.

“You are a prince of the Fae. I see the fire of your heritage. Please, please, Lord. Deliver me from this.”

“How is it you see me? That you know me? Only the People have that gift.”

“And precious few see at that,” Nuala murmured as she turned back to the bed. The woman's gaze finally snapped to her and Nuala smiled gently. The last of the woman's tension faded. Nuala's thrall still could not sway her, but something had delivered comfort.

“Princess,” the woman breathed. “I see your mercy, Princess. Please, I cannot bear it anymore.”

“You're not mad, are you?” Nuala murmured. The woman shook her head. Nuala bit her lower lip before slowly sitting beside the woman once more.

“If she sees us but is not us, we cannot let her live, sister,” Nuada growled. The woman between them closed her eyes but no protest came.

“I only ask for mercy,” she whispered. Nuada's chest ached with something he could not name.

“Would death be a mercy?” Nuala asked softly.

“I am trapped between realms, Princess. I see things too clearly to live among my own people but I am not welcome among the Fae. Death would be a kindness.”

The Fae shared another glance and Nuala eased one of the woman's wrists from Nuada's grip.

“There may be another answer. Do you trust me?” Nuala whispered.

“Yes.” The woman didn't hesitate with her answer. Nuala nodded and leaned in to brush her lips across the woman's pale brow. Nuada watched as the woman's eyes closed, then rolled back beneath her lids. Nuala froze, her own eyes open and staring.

“Sister?” Nuada prompted when Nuala did not move. His sister sat back slowly, her gaze far away when she looked at him.

“She is ours,” she murmured. Relief washed through Nuada until his sister spoke again. “And she is theirs. She is...she is half-breed.”

Nuada's blood ran to ice.

“That's not possible,” he whispered. “We can't...they can't...”

“We can. They can. Someone has.”

Nuala blinked and came back to herself to look down at the woman between them. The woman was slender, underfed and pale from too little sunlight. But when she opened her eyes and found Nuada's gaze once more, he had to admit that the gold-green gemstone of her eyes was clear and brilliant. Her hair would shine a rich chestnut when clean. There was beauty in her features, under the fear and pain. But enough to be Fae? Enough to be of his people?

“She is one of ours, brother. The humans have forsaken her and will abuse her. We have to take her home with us.”

“H-home?” The woman muttered.

“A half-breed? The people would revolt!”

“Not if she is studied. She may hold the answer to our future, Nuada. Our people struggle with -” Nuala cut off when Nuada hissed a soft warning.

“Please.” The woman interrupted. Her tongue darted out to dampen her dry lips. “I am at your mercy. I only ask you do not leave me as...as you found me”

The Fae shared another look and Nuada swallowed a sigh. He sent a beat of warning down the bond between he and his sister, then took the woman's jaw in his free hand. Her eyes locked to his once more. It took Nuada a half-heartbeat longer to speak than it should have. The woman was half-human, half-Fae and she could see them, truly See Them. Remarkable.

“You have two choices,” he hissed. “You stay among the humans, but we cannot leave you alive. Or you come with us. You will be part of the royal court, subject to our protection and laws until we determine how you came to be.”

“And what it means for our people,” Nuala added.

“Yes!” The woman tripped over Nuala's words to deliver her answer. “I would rather live a slave in your court than another second in this hell.”

“Not a slave,” Nuala corrected. “Slavery is not our way. More like...a...pet. Or a...a gravely ill friend we must study.” Nuada glared at his sister but she only shrugged.

“All the more, yes!”

Nuala shooed her brother away and helped the woman to her feet. The stranger stood several inches shorter than Nuada, nearly of a height with his sister. He watched as Nuala glamoured the blanket into a cloak and threw it around the dirty shift that served as the woman's clothing.

“Your name.” Nuada frowned, realizing what they had left unsaid. “We must know your name if we are to bring you into our home.”

“A-Aurora,” the woman stammered. “I am called Aurora. She met his eyes and flinched before dropping her gaze to the floor. “Your Highness.”

“There's no need for that, not when we are alone.” Nuala curled a finger under Aurora's chin. The woman allowed herself to meet Nuala's eyes with a shy smile. But when Nuala guided Aurora's attention to Nuada, the woman's smile faded and her gaze dropped once more.

“All the better,” Nuada grumbled. “I am no friend of the humans, girl. And you are only half Fae.”

Aurora did not answer. Nuala glared at her brother but he ignored it. He focused instead on creating a new glamour. One that would allow them to leave undetected. The sooner they left, the sooner they could return to their own land. Nuada only hoped the people would not revolt when they learned of Aurora.


	2. Beyond the Hedgerow

The trio made their way clear of the town. Nuada expected Aurora to complain about her feet or the cold or something. Humans were, in his experience, far more frail than his own people. But the woman didn’t say a word. She kept pace with Nuala, her eyes on the ground. Nuada would not have known Aurora were there at all if it weren’t for the faint shuffle of her bare feet against the dirt.

 _Why does she do that?_  Nuala didn’t turn as he addressed his sister.  _Why does she avert her eyes?_

 _It is their way with royalty._  Nuala’s words carried the weight of certainty. 

Nuada could only assume his sister had found the answer through her contact with Aurora. Nuala had always been more adept at reading people. Nuada preferred blades to magic.

_But we are not human._

_She is. At least, she is half human. And she is afraid. To look us in the eye is dangerously bold in her mind._

_Perhaps this human is not quite so bad as the rest._  Nuada meant it as a joke and Nuala knew it. That didn’t mean she found it funny. Nuada bit back a hiss as something like the prick of a needle carried across their bond.

_**Half** human. And not all of them are awful._

Nuada had no choice but to let the argument go. His sister knew the humans better than he did, true. But she also had a dangerously big heart. She would forgive her own murderer if they asked her to. Which, in Nuada’s eyes, was exactly what she did when she defended the humans.

“We are almost to the border.” Nuala spoke aloud for the benefit of their companion.

Aurora made some sound of acknowledgment and Nuada glanced back at her over his shoulder. His eyes met hers for a single heartbeat before she dropped her gaze back to the road, her cheeks flushed a deep red. Nuada was again struck by the golden hue of her eyes. They were the one thing about her that truly seemed Fae to him.

“Do you have any questions before we leave human land?” Nuala smiled gently at Aurora through the shorter woman did not seem to notice.

“I…I’ve heard stories. Of another world. A separate world.”

“Not so separate.” Nuala idly stroked the woman’s tangled hair. It was an instinctual reaction to the fear in Aurora’s voice.

“There are wards to keep humans from paying too much attention. But we walk the same land you do.” Nuada continued where his sister had left off. Aurora’s cheeks flushed again but her gaze did not meet his.

“We hide ourselves when we can, we blend in when we must,” Nuala added.

The three finished the trek in silence. Nuada stopped before a hedge that dwarfed them all. It was easily twenty feet tall and thickly grown.

“Once you enter our land, you will not be allowed to leave without an escort. And that right will not be granted for some time. You may not see your family again.” He turned to Aurora as he spoke.

“I understand, Your Grace.” She nodded as if to emphasize her agreement. Nuala graced her with another smile that went unseen before she turned the smile on her brother.

“Take us home, brother. It has been a long night and I think we are all in need of rest.”

* * *

Aurora had kept pace with the twins every on their journey from the human settlement. But she began to leg behind the moment Nuada summoned an opening in the hedge. He led them through, confident she and Nuala would follow. And they did, but slowly enough that hedge shivered in warning.

“Don’t dawdle. The opening tampers with our wards.” Nuada turned back with a frown and stopped.

Aurora wasn’t looking a the ground anymore. Her gaze was lifted and her eyes wide. She took in everything from the tiny winged sprites that flitted among tree leaves to the goblins that croaked like toads from beneath bushes.

“So many.” Her words came out as breathless whispers. “So many Fair Folk.”

“This is only the beginning.” Nuala tugged Aurora forward.

The woman scarcely moved though she clearly thought she had. Nuada’s fingers tensed when she stumbled. He quickly clasped his hands behind his back, lest he be tempted to forget that Aurora was human. No matter that her wide eyes were a luminous gold. Or that the stink of her humanity had faded a little when they entered Fae land. Or that another scent tickled at Nuada’s nose. Something sweet and soft that would have lesser men leaning in to learn more. Nuada again wondered what kind of danger they had brought among their people.

“Our people are not as plentiful as they once were,” Nuala went on.

“The humans saw to that.”

Nuada’s words broke Aurora from her revery. The wonder faded from her eyes before she snapped her gaze back to the ground. He felt a smug satisfaction but it faded sooner than he liked. Nuala’s dark frown might have had something to do with it.

“Everything will be fine.” Nuala crooned softly as she slipped an arm around Aurora’s shoulders. Neither woman looked at Nuada as the princess guided their guest through the trees.

Nuada trailed after. He let his glamour fall away piece by piece until he felt like himself again. Nuala held onto hers until they reached the road. Only then did she let her glamour slip away. Aurora’s went with it for a moment. The woman hardly seemed to notice.

“We’ve just a bit further to walk and then we can find some horses.”

Nuala began to lead Aurora up the road. Nuada let them go, one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other trailing through the dense bushes that lined the Royal Road. He would have to explain Aurora to his father, he knew. And his father would see her as Nuala did. Nuada knew that too. He just wasn’t sure he ever could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr at https://bombshelloffscript.tumblr.com/


	3. Upon the Royal Road

Aurora had managed well on the journey but her strength gave out a mile from the royal palace. She tripped over a low root and nearly sent Nuala sprawling before the princess steadied her companion.

“Apologies, princess!” Aurora grimaced, her cheeks ablaze.

“Hush, you did nothing wrong. We've been walking for hours. Of course you're tired!”

Nuala guided Aurora to one of the stone distance markers at the side of the road.

 _She cannot walk the rest of the way._ Nuala's voice carried across their bond. Nuada frowned.

_Don't expect me to carry her._

_You must! I cannot and she will not make it. Humans are more fragile by far -_

_And she is only half human._

Nuala glowered up at her brother, underscoring the anger thrumming through their bond. But Nuada was resolute. The woman's all-too-human odor had dimmed once they stepped through the hedgerow. But she still stank like them. Nuada already felt unclean from his time in their city. Carrying a human was a step too far, even for his sister.

_Fine. Stay with her._

Nuala murmured something in Aurora's ear. The woman nodded and closed her eyes as she settled back against the boulder.

_Where are you going?_

_To get help, since you're being petty._ Nuala threw her brother one last dirty look before she started off down the road once more. _And be nice. Barring that, be silent!_

Nuala rounded a bend in the road and was gone. Nuada had no idea what she meant about “getting help” - knowing his sister, that could mean any number of things. He just wished she would hurry. The human was supposed to be her pet after all, not his.

The thought brought his eyes back to the young woman. She still had her eyes closed and her head back. Sunlight dappled her cheeks as it came through the trees and, for the first time, she looked almost like one of his people.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, just to see if the sound would wake her. The deep, even pace of her breathing didn't change. Nuada took it as a sign she was too deeply asleep to be of any trouble and looked about for his own boulder to rest on. His kind were more robust than humans, generally speaking. But the night had been long and he was tired.

A large flat rock drew his eye. It was some way up the road, probably further than Nuala wanted him to stray from her pet. But he could still see her if he turned to face her on his perch. Nuada gave the woman one last look, then took off down the lane. His thoughts hummed along, mostly railing at Nuala for bringing the human back with them. But he had to admit he was curious.

Nuada turned the situation over in his mind as he settled onto the sun-warmed rock. One of her ancestors – gods only knew who – had been Fae. His people had always maintained the assumption that they could not breed with humans. Clearly, they were wrong. As if that weren't bad enough, breeding with humans apparently produced hybrids with skills relatively rare among pure-born Fae. That or her ancestor was from a royal family. The thought chilled Nuada.

He thought back to his instruction on the royal families of the Fae. His family ruled Bethmoora though they had not been back to the ancient city since leaving their army behind. Now Bethmoora – or a new Bethmoora – was created wherever his family and their people settled. Other clans were luckier, their cities still undetected by humans or their lands unreachable for the time being. The families of Drom, Eiscir, Prachan, and Dibhe all still had their lands. And, as far as Nuada knew, their descendants.

His frown grew as he sank deeper into thought and it wasn't until he felt the ground shivering that he opened his eyes. Thunder rolled toward him down the road and he rose to stand on his perch. A team of horses appeared around the bend a breath later, an open chariot pulled behind. Nuala sat on one side of the chariot and Nuada's jaw tensed when he found their father sitting beside her. He waited until the carriage pulled up even with him before he spoke.

“There was no need to come, father.” Nuada swept his father a low bow.

“My children come home with an impossible half-breed. Of course, I needed to see her for myself.”

“I would have brought her to you.”

“Now there is no need. And we can decide how best to handle her arrival before the people catch wind of her.”

“Where is she?” Nuala frowned as she stood. “Weren't you watching her?”

Nuada spun on his heel. The boulder was exactly as he had left it, but Aurora was gone.

“I take my eyes off the thing for a few minutes and she runs off.”

“A few minutes? I've been gone for several hours. Did you not notice?” Nuala turned on her brother and Nuada didn't bother blocking the shame she poured on him. Hours could not be possible, he would have noticed. But when he looked up he found the sun had moved and the shadows were indeed longer.

“I swear, sister. I did not know it had been hours.”

“I find that more vexing than the hybrid.” King Balor settled back in his seat and shook his head. Nuala stepped from the carriage and the driver started the horses once more. “Find her and bring her back. Try to bring back whatever it is that addled our Nuada's senses as well.”

The driver urged the horses further down the road. Nuada knew his father could control the Royal Road. It would just loop back to the palace when King Balor wished it. The majority of Nuala's trip would have been the trek to the palace itself. A trek Nuada had been bespelled to sleep through.

“What were you doing all the way over here?”

“Thinking.” Nauda snapped his response before he caught himself. He softened his voice before he continued, unwilling to fight with his sister yet again today. “For this woman to have the gifts she does, her Fae ancestor must be high-born. I was thinking of all the royal families and their heirs. Trying to remember if one had gone missing.”

“Well, now Aurora's gone missing!” Nuala was still angry but her fury had shifted a little further away from her brother.

“We'll search the woods. Whatever it was could not have taken her without leaving evidence.”

“Find her, brother.” Nuala's tone turned pleading and Nuada couldn't say no.

They approached the boulder together, Nuada's eyes on the underbrush to either side.

“There.” He pointed to a bit of broken stem and a few reddish-brown hairs caught in a bramble. The prince unsheathed his sword as he stepped from the bright road into the dim woods. The woods did not normally hold danger, but something was amiss. He intended to find out what it was. And then kill it.


	4. Ogres and Others

Aurora’s abductors had left few clues but Nuada found them all the same. Three ogres sat around the sleeping woman, though her sleep was most certainly not natural. The four of them took up most of a small clearing.

“But the prince? You used some on  _the prince?_ ” The oldest of the ogres slammed a heavy hand into the head of a smaller one sitting at its side. “We’ll die for that alone.”

“But we caught a human in our lands!” The third ogre protested made its protest from a safe distance away.

“A human sleeping not twenty feet from the prince on the Royal Road. Do you not think that perhaps he knew the thing was there!”

“But you said -”

The largest ogre roared. Both its companions fell silent. Aurora did not so much as stir a finger.

“B-but why would Prince Nuada bring a h-human into our lands?” The third ogre clearly had more will than the larger one gave it credit for.

“Who knows how the elves think? He hates human, but he may dally with one.” The largest ogre looked down at Aurora. “It’s an ugly thing, but who am I to speak for a prince’s tastes?”

“No one a'tall.” Nuada stepped into the clearing, his blade drawn and Nuala urging him on across their bond. All three ogres froze. One stared at his blade. The second stared at him. The third ogre glanced from Nuala to Aurora and back. That was the ogre Nuada was worried about.

“Mercy, your highness.” The largest ogre dropped to its knees and bowed its head. It thumped the second ogre on the leg when it didn’t follow suit. The third ogre stayed standing though it backed up a few steps.

“Mercy? For creatures who would drug their crown prince? Who would take what is his?”

“We thought we were doing a service, my prince.” The third ogre spoke again. It finally knelt and bowed its head. All three ogres looked up, fear on their faces when Nuada laughed.

“A service? Pray tell, how were you a service to the crown when you stole my senses?”

“We thought she was a witch or some such thing! That she had addled you, so we stole her away to free you!”

Nuala stepped forward and laid her hand on her brother’s arm. He didn’t look at her but tension tightened his limbs as she stepped past him.

“Give me your hand.” There was no softness in her tone and the largest ogre obeyed. Nuala pressed their palms together and waited. A moment later she gave Nuada a small nod.

“They speak the truth.”

“A witch could not get beyond the hedgerow.” Nuada frowned. A thought from Nuala tugged at him and he sighed as he sheathed his blade once more.

“We did not know, my lord, we swear it!”

“How did you addle me?” Nuada would not kill these ogres, not for taking the human. If she had somehow managed to get in on her own – if she had been a threat – they really would have been doing the realm a service.

“Twas only a little silvered pixie dust.” The middle ogre pulled a bag from its belt and held it out to Nuala.

The silver explained it. Powdered and inhaled it was a potent drug. Pixie dust would lull most creatures to sleep. Combined, they were the perfect tool to addle nearly any Fae. Which meant these three weren’t as innocent as they claimed.

“You’re thieves.” Nuada leveled an angry look at each ogre. “And not just of this human. Only thieves carry such a thing.”

“I…we…” The biggest ogre’s face clouded with worry. Nuada itched to dispatch them for the audacity alone of drugging him. But Nuala was in the way. And even if they were not injured, there was every chance that Aurora would be tramped in the fight. Nuala would never forgive him.

His sister tugged at his thoughts again and he let her see what he had decided. She gave him the smallest of smiles and pocketed the bag of powder.

“We’re taking this and our human. You three can go. But if we catch you near the palace, my brother will not show mercy.”

The ogres did not bother with a reply. They scrambled to their feet and took off into the trees faster than Nuada had ever seen their kind move before.

“Would you really have me kill them?”

“Only if they come near Aurora again. They weren’t truly awful, just pickpockets and thieves who thought they would get a good price for the witch who snuck so close to their prince.”

“Ogres.” Nuada shook his head.

Nuala hummed softly in agreement and knelt down at Aurora’s side. Her fingers prodded here and there before she nodded.

“She’s alive, and relatively unharmed. There are some bruises from where they grabbed her or dropped her, but a poultice will heal that nicely.” Nuala looked up at her brother. “You have no choice now. You must carry her back to the Road. Father will return for us when he feels us waiting.”

Nuada grumbled under his breath but Nuala caught his thought all the same.

“He did not expect us to need help when we first arrived.” A frown flitted across her face as she looked down at Aurora. “And he could not feel her. Otherwise, he would have met us much sooner.”

Nuada frowned to match his sister, then stooped beside the sleeping woman. She had been bespelled as well and her human side had made the pixie dust even more potent. There was every chance that she would not wake until the following dawn. Nuada’s frown twisted into a grimace as he scooped her into his arms, the dirty blanket keeping her body away from his.

“I’ll need a bath,” he grumbled. “Three baths, by the time we get back.”

Nuala didn’t bother with a reply. She led the way in silence and waited beside her brother until their father and his carriage reappeared. Nuala still would not speak when she and Aurora were settled on the seat across from the king, her attention focused on the bespelled woman. It fell to Nuada to recount the tale of the ogres and King Balor frowned when Nuala produced the bag of laced pixie dust.

“I’ve been seeing more of this. Influence from the humans, from other clans.” He took the bag form his daughter and examined the contents for a moment before he tucked it all away in a pocket. “It seems you may have kept your oath after all, my son. Something is stirring in the wider lands around Bethmoora. Perhaps your people will need you for more than your grudge against the humans.”

Nuada looked across the carriage at Aurora. Nuala had insisted the sleeping woman be placed at her side so that she could keep her from falling over on the short ride back to the palace. The stink of her humanity still clung to Nuada’s clothes. His father seemed confident that Aurora posed no threat to their people. Nuada wasn’t convinced.

“We shall see.”


End file.
